The Young Lawyers Division Affiliate Outreach Conference (AOC) was an amazing success this year, highlighting the service of Florida’s Young Lawyers on behalf of our veterans, police officers, children, immigrants, and the most vulnerable among us.  AOC also honored a handful of the numerous affiliates supporting their local communities and young lawyers over the last year.

For the second year in a row, the Broward County Bar Association Young Lawyers Section won the Affiliate of the Year Award.  The BCBA YLS won that award for Large Affiliates category, a new category created so that your YLD can recognize the individual contributions of large and smaller affiliates.  BCBA YLS hosted a wide range of CLEs, including a Boot Camp and Mentorship program.  Its charity events raised almost $12,000 and supported programs like Lawyers for Literacy, Hurricane Relief Effort for Haiti, and Read for the Record.

BCBA YLS also won the award for the Affiliate Member Service Project of the Year for its Boot Camp Series.  That project consisted of four sessions (Dispositive  Motions, Evidence, Deposition Training, and Win the War When You’ve Lost the Battle) to introduce new attorneys to scenarios and problems new attorneys face and provide insightful strategy and solutions for those situations.  This award highlights programs that serve young lawyers, provide for membership enrichment, and are innovative.

In its inaugural year, the award for Small Affiliate of Year went to the Escambia Santa Rosa Bar Association Young Lawyer Division.  This affiliate assisted with providing mentors to Justice Teaching and Youth  Motivator, teaching legal curriculum to students, and working with foster children to assist them to select presents for their foster parents, among other things.

Last, but certainly not least, the Brevard County Bar Association YLD won the award for the Affiliate Public Service Project of the Year Award.  That award recognizes a project that serves the public and the community, enhances the relationship of young lawyers to the public and thecommunity, and is innovative.  Brevard County Bar Association YLD hosted a phenomenal Veterans’ Estate Planning Seminar, providing free basic estate planning to local veterans and their spouses.

Dwayne Robinson is an appellate attorney and commercial litigation at Hogan Lovells in Miami, Florida, graduating from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2011.  He is an appointed member of The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division Board of Governors and a Class II graduate of The Florida Bar Leadership Academy.